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So, God, if your existence should be proved<\/b><\/p>\n
I\u2019d still insist that I would not bow down.<\/b><\/p>\n
No matter what, I never would be moved<\/b><\/p>\n
To genuflect before your thorny crown.<\/b><\/p>\n
No, worship\u2019s no thing for a human being<\/b><\/p>\n
To get mixed up in. Any risk I take<\/b><\/p>\n
Is very much a worthwhile hazard, seeing<\/b><\/p>\n
That dignity and freedom are at stake.<\/b><\/p>\n
It\u2019s rumoured you became a man once \u2013 well,<\/b><\/p>\n
If you should come again and stay a man<\/b><\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think I could possibly foretell<\/b><\/p>\n
What good you might do in your natural span:<\/b><\/p>\n
But try this world, with equals be an equal,<\/b><\/p>\n
Just live this life, with no thought for a sequel. <\/b><\/p>\n
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Andrew Belsey (UK), born in the Fenlands of East Anglia, England, a graduate of Cardiff University, still lives in Cardiff, Wales, where he teaches philosophy at Cardiff University. With Ruth Chadwick, he jointly edited Ethical Issues in Journalism and the Media (Routledge, 1992). He has composed poetry in many genres, both free and formal, for over forty years. His formal verse includes sonnets, some of which he considers as slightly experimental, since he sometimes allows controlled irregularities of rhythm or rhyme. His poetry has appeared in many journals and E-zines, including New Headland, Peer Poetry International, Philosophy Now, Above Ground Testing, Poetry Life and Times, Comrades, Sonnetto Poesia and Snakeskin. He is the author of Anaximander (Outposts Publications, 1974) and A Collection of Four-Line Poems 1962-1999 (Llwynywll Press, \u00a9 2000). Andrew\u2019s imagery tends to draw much from concrete and visual elements, examples of which have appeared in various anthologies and magazines, and in Going Round in Circles [and a Square]: Concrete Poems which Might or Might not be Circular Arguments (or Vice Versa) (Llwynywll Press, 2nd ed., \u00a9 2002).<\/b><\/p>\n
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This sonnet is pre-published with the permission of the Editor-in-chief from:Richard Vallance, editor-in-chief. The Phoenix Rising from the Ashes: Anthology of sonnets of the early third millennium = Le Ph\u00e9nix renaissant de ses cendres : Anthologie de sonnets au d\u00e9but du troisi\u00e8me mill\u00e9naire. Friesen Presse, Victoria, B.C., Canada. \u00a9 2013. approx. 240 pp. ISBN Hardcover: 978-1-4602-1700-9 Price: $28.00 Paperback: 978-1-4602-1701-6 Price: $18.00 e-Book: 978-1-4602-1702-3 Price: TBA<\/b><\/p>\n
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\u00a0300 sonnets & ghazals in English, French, Spanish, German, Chinese & Persian. Selected sonnets in this anthology are to be pre-published by our permission in Poetry Life & Times (UK) which has exclusive sole rights prior to the publication of the anthology itself. Readers may also contact Richard Vallance, Editor-in-Chief, at: vallance22@gmx.com for further information.<\/b> http:\/\/vallance22.hpage.com\/<\/span><\/strong><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n